2a garden tool with a long or short handle and three or four sharp metal points, used for diggingsee alsopitchforkSee related entries:Gardening

3a place where a road, river, etc. divides into two parts; either of these two partsShortly before dusk they reached a fork and took the left-hand track.Take the right fork.See related entries:Features of roads,Rivers and lakes

4a thing shaped like a fork, with two or more long partsa jagged fork of lightningsee alsotuning fork

; reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman Frenchfurke (also from Latinfurca).Extra examplesBear left at the fork in the road.He put the knives and forks on the table.Mash the mixture with a fork.She impaled a piece of meat on her fork.a fork in the roada monkey sitting in the fork of the tree